Is Blogging Still Important?

With so many social media platforms and multimedia today, is blogging still important?

I have been pondering about this question since I started this blog in September of last year.

My very first blog was created in the mid-2000s in which I quickly abandoned after the introduction of social media.

At the time, blogs weren’t as multifunctional nor professional as they are today. For example, to customize font size and colors, I had to use a bit of HTML coding in order to make the blog more fancy-nancy.

Today, blogging is SO much easier to work on and navigate. With the sophistication of WordPress and hosting companies, I found it much easier to create a blog.

However, creating one is NOT the same as running it. The maintenance of a blog entails many moving parts that are just too long to list.

And that prompts me to revert back to my original question: Is blogging still important rendering the amount of work worthwhile?

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Blogging Can Open a Door of Possibilities

When it comes to “modern day blogging,” I have been living under a the rock. Little did I know that a lot of the queries that I inadvertently researched on Google are blog posts.

This revelation came after I became a mom and was looking for info on mom topics and stumbled upon blogs. Unfortunately I didn’t find everything that I was looking for.

For example, I was particularly intrigued by the cost of raising a baby with detailed figures. But because I couldn’t find this, I documented my own instead: Cost or Raising a Baby.

Now that I’ve been blogging for almost a year, I ventured into a world of new opportunities. This includes the possibility to build a global audience, work with sponsors, get featured on Business Insider and other large publications, and network with other bloggers.

I truly never thought that I could accomplish so much in such a short period of time. I attribute this to the wealth of knowledge provided by others on the internet.

As a way to pay it forward, I’m documenting my blogging journey in a quarterly update to share my experience. Hopefully, this could be helpful for new or prospective bloggers!

This post will be my 3rd quarterly update (or Q3). You can also check out Q1 and Q2 to read about my previous progresses.

5 Reasons Why Blogging Is Still Important Today

After the introduction of social media, I thought blogging was a thing of the past. Boy was I wrong!

I mistakenly thought that blogging was only about journaling and airing out random thoughts.

While this is still true today and blogs like these serve as a form of entertainment, blogs could still open up other possibilities.

This is especially true if you want to run a blog like a business.

This blog resides somewhere in the middle spectrum where the contents are targeted for a specific audience: Moms who want to achieve financial independence while raising a family.

Even though this blog is not entirely business driven, I still learned a lot about the process of creating a business. Here’s what I gathered:

1. Blogging Can Help Solve a Problem

Much of the successful personal blogs today also act as a business that helps its readers to solve problems.

For example, I’ve connected with Making Sense of Cents whose blog I found while reading an article on Forbes.

This blog focuses on Michelle’s financial journey since 2011. What started out as a blog to document her goal to pay off student loans turned into a business that helped her become financially independent (FI).

And in many ways, the reason why I stumbled upon Michelle’s blog was because I was searching for info related to her contents.

This prompted me to gain a better understanding of SEO (or search engine optimization) and the role it plays in search results.

What I learned is that the search engine is really an answering machine that organizes information.

This is why blogging is so important because it can provide relevant contents to the library of queries. In essence, it can help others find a blog through providing answers to a problem.

2. Blogging Is a Form of Digital Marketing

With insightful analytics such as the Google Search Console and Google Analytics, blogs can become a form of digital marketing vehicle for businesses.

These two tools themselves are incredibly powerful if you’re a business owner who wants your website to be found.

Via blog posts, you can optimize your chances of being ranked on the search engine (or SERP which stands for Search Engine Results Pages).

For the most part, having good SEO combined with valuable contents can be a great way to attract new clients.

3. Networking Is Part of Blogging

Few months ago, I had a very insightful Zoom chat with Deacon Hayes who shared with me his insights on blogging.

Deacon runs a successful blog at Well Kept Wallet and who is also a writer for large media outlets as well as an author of his very own book!

During this chat, I got to see the real-time analytics of Well Kept Wallet and found out that it has a wealth of information. This is really eye-opening because this blog generates 100k – 200k monthly views per month and the analytics are incredibly insightful.

Unfortunately, since I do not have close to that many viewership, my analytics are much more limited. But it was still interesting to take a peak behind the curtains of a well-established blog.

In addition, Deacon shared insights about how he became a writer for U.S. News and published a book. The secret you ask? Networking!

He connected with other personal finance bloggers using his blog; Then one thing led to another and he was offered these opportunities.

It was really interesting to learn about the whole blogging process from an experienced blogger. Thanks to this blog, I was given that opportunity.

4. Blogging Is Learning

Next, what makes blogging important is the vast knowledge that you’ll gain.

Blogging today is no longer just about writing, but marketing and building connections (only if you want to run it like a business of course).

While I learned a whole lot through my own research, it was also great and more fun to learn from others!

For example, I had a Skpye call with The Poor Swiss who is a personal finance blogger in Switzerland.

I love following his blog and learned a lot through him about the financial aspects of living in Switzerland. I even got our rent to be reduced by close to $2k annually through reading this blog post!

In addition, he helped me analyze my site speed and gave me tips to optimize it. Through this Skpye call, I realize how much more I needed to learn about the technical side of running a blog.

So in addition to networking, I’ve also learned a great deal through just simply connecting with other bloggers. Not to mention developing new friendships!

5. Blogging Can Inspire Business Ideas

Speaking of learning and connecting, I also had a Zoom call with Erika Kullberg who is a personal finance blogger and Youtuber to exchange some business ideas.

We have been in communication via Facebook chat regarding our shared interest in personal finance. I gave her some insights regarding her business since I was doing some heavy research on it, and she shared tips on how she delegates her tasks by hiring out.

I’ve never thought about hiring out at the start, but this is something I’m seriously considering as an investment to scale up.

What I realized after chatting with others is that I want to start an official online business that serves a purpose.

And that’s why I’ll be working on starting a new website to be launched next year!

With the uncertainties growing in the job market, I do have to find alternative ways to secure an income.

When I wrote this post on “Why I Blog,” I’ve foreseen that my job will either be outsourced or replaced by new technology in the future. However, what I haven’t foreseen was a pandemic that could speed up the process.

So this was a good “kick in the butt” that I needed to evaluate my business plan and figure out if I could truly start a small business of my own.

Through this blog, I was able to figure out new business opportunities that I’d like to test out next year.

Most Importantly, Blogging Can Be Multifaceted

As you can see, blogging can be quite multifaceted.

Not only can you share your thoughts, you can also connect with like-minded individuals, build a brand, and start a business.

According to this content marketing statistic, “Blogs are among the primary three forms of media used in content strategies today.”

Additionally, “Companies spend 46% of their budget on content creation” indicating that there’s a paradigm shift in favor of online contents.

Furthermore, blogging and the media are now intertwined. It’s not uncommon that bloggers are featured or write on on large media sites which wasn’t the case in the past.

Finally, I think having a blog is still important today because a website serves as an online real estate space.

On social media platforms, we’re essentially renting an online presence. But if these platforms go down, there goes our entire profile. On the other hand, a blog is more like an owned space.

With a website, we take ownership of our domain name through a hosting company that stores our work. This gives us the flexibility to use ad features, work with sponsors, and even sell our own products or services.

However, that’s not to say that blogging is easy. I actually thought that it was a simple process before I started but I was SO WRONG! There’s really a lot of work and learning involved if you want to take it to the next level.

Otherwise, blogging could be a fun endeavor minus all of the technicalities. In any case, I believe that blogging is still certainly important today and has its rightful place on the internet.

Related: Blogventure

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